Rewind, recap – weekly update w/e 14/05/17

Well. This has been one heck of a week. Mini tour of Scotland for the first three days, starting in Airdrie before heading over to Dundee and then up to Aberdeen. Well, Portlethen, but it was close enough. Absolutely wrecked my working week and I now have a million emails to deal with in my inbox. That may be minor exaggeration but it doesn’t feel like it to me right now. I used to have palpitations when the number went over 800. Last time I dared look at my inbox it was over 1500. I seriously want to go and hide in a dark corner right now and never emerge again…

Still. For all the bad things about travelling for work and my currently insane agenda, driving time meant that I did manage to sneak in a couple of audio books so I had a much more productive reading week this week. Go me. I also had a little bit of good news come Thursday when I found out that I’d been nominated in three categories for the Bloggers Bash Awards. That is a very humbling feeling and I thank all who thought of me. I was nominated for Best Newcomer (which I think sadly I am just a couple of weeks too old to be eligible for), Hidden Gem and Funniest Blogger. I am still trying to work out if that last one means funny ha-ha or funny strange. Either way I’ll take it :D. I am what I am.

Book wise I have read/listened to some gems this week. Gosh I’m a lucky blogger. I also received some little beauties in the post. Wolves in the Dark by Gunnar Staalesen and Dying To Live by Michael Stanley, both from the wonderful Orenda Books. I’m blog touring on both and I absolutely cannot wait to get stuck into them.

I was also gifted the audio version of this little beauty, Behind the Wire, the final part of the Dan Taylor series by Rachel Amphlett. Thank you so much Rachel. I am going to savour this as I will miss Dan when it’s all over.

The headless body of a wealthy widow is discovered decomposing in Chelling Forest. Then a second victim is found. Detective Inspector Lorne Simpkins and her partner, DS Pete Childs are assigned the case.

Before they can discover the identity of the killer they must make a connection between the two victims.

After a third murder, Lorne receives a grisly surprise. Clearly, a vicious serial killer is on a rampage…and Lorne has become the killer’s fixation.

Lorne can’t allow her failing marriage or her new boss–a man with whom she shares a sensuous secret–keep her from focusing on her job. She must catch the macabre murderer, or risk becoming the next victim.

My first audio book of the week on my journey up to Airdrie, this is a kind of a dark story but I really like it. Sometimes a little brutal, it is in no way gratuitous but introduces us to the character of DI Lorne Simpkins and her team, a bunch who I really came to like as they were faced with an almost impossible case. I’ll be publishing my review in the next few weeks but in the meantime you can find links to Cruel Justice and the rest of the Justice series here.

The Revelation Room – The first in a series of gripping psychological crime thrillers written with occasional flashes of dark humour.

Edward Ebb had learned long ago that the truth was best extracted by time and torture. You could set your clock by that. Whilst searching for a missing girl, private investigator Geoff Whittle is kidnapped by a highly dangerous cult. Close to death, he makes a desperate call to his son, Ben, asking for help. He tells Ben not to call the police because “everyone will die”.

Haunted by the phone call and terrified by what they might find, Ben and his friend, Maddie, track down one of the cult members spreading the word in Oxford city centre. They soon realise that their only option is to join the cult and rescue Ben’s father from the inside. But the Sons and Daughters of Salvation are a group of unhinged, brainwashed people living under the spell of evil psychopath, Edward Ebb.

When Ben and Maddie are initiated into the group, they pass into a world where only two choices exist: compliance or death. The odds are impossibly stacked against them and they are about to discover the gruesome secret locked away in the Revelation Room.

Oh my. This book. Dark humour is about right. I really enjoyed reading this and you can find out how much when I take part in the blog tour at the end of the month. Parts of this really made me chuckle but other parts made me wince as the madness of Father Ebb takes a hold and he inflicts his own kind of ‘faith’ upon his followers. Pink wigs and shovels will never seem the same to me again. This book is about to be republished by Bloodhound Books so keep an eye out for it. You won’t regret it.

John Sagan is a forgettable man. You could pass him in the street and not realise he’s there. But then, that’s why he’s so dangerous.

A torturer for hire, Sagan has terrorised – and mutilated – countless victims. And now he’s on the move. DS Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg must chase the trail, even when it leads him to his hometown of Bradburn – a place he never thought he’d set foot in again.

But Sagan isn’t the only problem. Bradburn is being terrorised by a lone killer who burns his victims to death. And with the victims chosen at random, no-one knows who will be next. Least of all Heck…

Although this is the sixth Heck book, it’s actually my first. Don’t shoot me. I’ve been busy. Loved this book. I may not know Heck’s background in full but I know enough to love this character after just one book and I’m going to love going back to catch up even more. Kind of gruesome and brutal, this sees Heck being forced to face his past and putting his life on the line to try and save people who may just be beyond redemption. My review will be out shortly but you can purchase the book here.

Detective Kay Hunter and her colleagues are shocked by the vicious murder of a teenage girl at a private party in the Kentish countryside.

A tangled web of dark secrets is exposed as twisted motives point to a history of greed and corruption within the tight-knit community.

Confronted by a growing number of suspects and her own enemies who are waging a vendetta against her, Kay makes a shocking discovery that will make her question her trust in everyone she knows.

Man I love this series and this book is another superb addition. Very different in pace from the first two books in the Kay Hunter series, it is no less exciting or tense. This book sees Kay hunting down the killer of a young girl at her engagement party. Everyone she meets is keeping secrets, including someone she is working with, and things at work and at home take a turn for the worse. The way this was left I simply cannot wait for book 4 later this year. Review will be up at the end of the month. In the meantime you can pre-order the book here.

…

The Eyes of the Accused by Mark Tilbury

Fresh from the horrors of the Revelation Room, private investigators Ben and Maddie are plunged into a disturbing world of terror as they search for missing pregnant girl, Hannah Heath.

Drawn to Frank Crowley, an original suspect in Hannah’s disappearance, Maddie is about to learn the true meaning of evil. But all is not what it seems. Crowley is just a small part of something unimaginable. Something so terrible and deranged it defies reason.

After Maddie disappears, Ben is left in a desperate race against time to find her and uncover the truth.

I’m on the blog tour for this early next month so will share my review with you then. This is the follow up to the darkly humorous The Revelation Room and what a fitting sequel it is too. The central characters of Maddie and Ben are really growing on me the more I read and even Ben’s dad, Geoff, has a certain kind of brusque appeal. The book is being re-published by Bloodhound Books next month.

…

Not too shabby a reading achievement this week huh? I even managed to turn some of the reads into actual reviews too. Go me. Busy old week on the blog again too with a mix of reviews and #BookLove.

Another full on week this week with a mixture of reviews and #BookLove. I also have the Orenda Roadshow at Waterstones Piccadilly on Wednesday and the utterly brilliant CrimeFest to look forward to over the weekend and I cannot wait. Almost unbelievably, I am only on one blog tour this week but it’s a cracker – Hunting the Hangman by Howard Linksey, a fictionalised recounting of the assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich, a truly evil and heartless Nazi Commander who led the troops in Czechoslovakia, known as, amongst other things, The Hangman.

I’ll also be sharing some #booklove with author Effie Kammenou and blogger Sarah Hardy. Make sure to stop by won’t you.

Now, believe it or not, this old blog is actually going to be achieving the grand old age of one next week. I know right? It feels much longer to me too but that’s because each one of my posts is so long it takes around 2.5 days to read ;D. I am still deciding just quite how to recognise the momentous occasion but I am thinking giveaway as I have a few books and trinkets sat on my bookshelf just desperate for a new home. Hope you’ll join me.

Have a wonderfully bookish week all and I’ll see you on the other side.

Thank you Missus. To be honest I wouldn’t keep up if I didn’t love audio books. They are my saviour. I think I am working my way towards a July slow down with Harrogate and my birthday to recover from plus I have a major project at work which will take over the second half of the year so I’m getting it all in while the going is good. It will never last lol.

Your email inbox is fuller than mine – didn’t think that was possible. Also, if you find someone who performs NetGalley interventions I’d like to have their name.
You have some great titles here. Don’t know how you keep up with the blog tours. I have been refusing most of them lately as the time deadlines mess with my review queue.

I use the blog tours to set reading targets. Only go on the ones of books I really want to read so it forces my hand a little. I’ll be cutting back post summer as too many projects at work to expect to keep it up.

Both Orenda books look great, and there are so many Netgalley titles I wanted to request as well! I went a little Bookouture crazy myself and I’m definitely going to try and request a few of the others as soon as I have read a few titles. Enjoy your new books and happy reading!

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. By entering your information you are providing your permission for your personal data to be stored and used for the sole purpose of sharing updates. Your personal data will not be shared with any other organisations and you have the right to unsubscribe at any time.

Join 6,570 other followers

Follow Us

Privacy Policy

Jen Med’s Book Reviews does not share personal information with third-parties nor do we store information we collect about your visit to this blog for use other than to analyze content performance through the use of cookies, which you can turn off at anytime by modifying your Internet browser’s settings.

Email information may be held by WordPress.com for the express purpose of providing updates on new posts and publications. You can unsubscribe from these emails or unfollow this blog at any time by following the links in the email

Full details of our privacy policy can be found on the Privacy policy page above or by following this direct link